The British Tamils Forum
has claimed that despite the war being ended nearly seven years ago,
the Sri Lankan military continue to occupy more than 96% of the land belonging to the Tamil people under the guise of ‘national security.’

In a statement, the Forum claimed today that as of March 1, 2016, the
military was occupying 67,427 acres of land belonging to the Tamils in
the Northern Province.

“During the previous government of Mahinda Rajapaksa, in the North
alone, nearly 70,000 acres of land was under occupation. Since the
change of government in January 2015, just over 2,500 acres of these
lands has been released. This constitutes a mere 3.6% of the total land
taken over in the North by the Sri Lankan military,” the statement said.

We publish below the statement:

Tamils’ land occupied by Sri Lankan security forces

Nearly seven years after the end of the war, the Sri Lankan military
is still occupying more than 96% of the land belonging to the Tamil
people who were driven off their own lands, in the pretext of “national
security”.

Field data obtained by British Tamils Forum (BTF), in the Northern
Province of Sri Lanka, indicate that as of 1st March 2016, the military
is occupying 67,427 acres of land belonging to the Tamil people.

During the previous government of Mahinda Rajapakse, in the North
alone, nearly 70,000 acres of land was under occupation. Since the
change of government in January 2015, just over 2,500 acres of these
lands has been released. This constitutes a mere 3.6% of the total land
taken over in the North by the Sri Lankan military.

BTF provides below the breakdown of land occupation, obtained from primary sources in the north.

The present Sri Lankan government has been making much fanfare of the
minuscule land releases while hiding the true extent of the occupation.

Above statistics show the continuing occupation of private land and
lack of progress in addressing the suffering of the displaced people,
who are prevented from returning to their own land.

As per our reliable sources from Jaffna, Sri Lankan government survey
department has been instructed to survey 118 new locations for land
acquisitions in the Jaffna peninsula for building permanent military
camps for the Sri Lankan military. These surveys, initiated by the
previous government, had been abandoned due to public protest at the
time. Resumption of this process by the present government exposes its
true intentions, contrary to its pledge on demilitarization and return
of land to the Tamil people.

BTF calls upon the Sri Lankan and International media to expose the
above reality and calls upon the politicians who came on a promise of
change to stop the deception and deliver the promised change to the
Tamil people immediately.

BTF calls upon the British government to take up the issue of
demilitarisation urgently and exert due pressure on the Sri Lankan
government to return all the land occupied by the Sri Lankan military to
the rightful owners.

We call upon the Sri Lankan government to honour its promises on
several occasions including its commitment to return these lands, in
accordance with the UNHRC Geneva resolution it co-sponsored.